Definition
A vicar general is a senior ecclesiastical officer appointed to assist a bishop or archbishop in the governance and administration of a diocese or province. The vicar general acts as the principal deputy of the bishop, holding delegated authority to perform administrative and judicial functions on the bishop's behalf. In Roman Catholic canon law, the vicar general is formally recognized as the bishop's alter ego in ordinary governance, empowered to act in matters of church discipline, the granting of dispensations, and the supervision of clergy and institutions within the diocese.
The term appears in English law primarily in the context of ecclesiastical courts and the Church of England, where the vicar general of an archbishop or bishop exercised jurisdiction over matters such as the granting of marriage licenses, probate of wills in certain periods, and the discipline of clergy.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this term in historical sources should be alert to two distinct contexts that can easily collapse into one another: canon law usage (Roman Catholic) and English ecclesiastical law usage (Church of England). The jurisdictional scope and formal authority of the office differ between these traditions, and sources from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries may use the term without specifying which framework governs.
In English legal history, the vicar general's court was a functioning tribunal with documentary output — act books, license records, and disciplinary proceedings — that researchers working in ecclesiastical history, probate history, or marriage law will encounter directly. The office was significant in the administration of the Faculty Office and in the issuance of special marriage licenses that bypassed ordinary diocesan procedure.
For researchers working in American legal sources, the term has almost no footprint in civil law after the Revolution. Ecclesiastical governance of American religious bodies became purely a matter of internal church law, not civil jurisdiction. References to a vicar general in American sources are almost always internal church documents or descriptions of Catholic diocesan structure, not legal instruments carrying civil effect.
The historical legal dictionaries treat this as an ecclesiastical term of art rather than a civil law term, which is accurate but can mislead researchers into dismissing its legal significance in pre-modern English sources, where ecclesiastical courts had substantial jurisdiction over matters we now regard as civil (marriage, testamentary matters, defamation involving moral character).
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary defines the vicar general as "an ecclesiastical officer who assists the archbishop in the discharge of his office." This definition is accurate but narrow — it anchors the office exclusively to the archiepiscopal level, when in practice the role exists at the diocesan (bishop) level as well, which is its most common historical and contemporary form. Wiktionary's definition corrects this by identifying the bishop as the appointing authority, aligning more closely with canon law usage.
Neither source captures the judicial dimension of the office — specifically the vicar general's historic role presiding over or representing the bishop in ecclesiastical court proceedings, which is essential for any researcher working with pre-nineteenth-century English ecclesiastical records. The gap between these definitions and the full historical record is meaningful enough that researchers should not rely on dictionary sources alone when the vicar general appears as a party, officer, or authority in primary documents.
Jurisdictional Note
In Roman Catholic canon law (governed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law), every diocese must have at least one vicar general. In the Church of England, the office persists in attenuated form. In American civil law, the term carries no legal significance and appears only in the internal governance documents of religious organizations.